Barely a year after winning a Sh10.5 million sports lottery, Edmond Ngetich is still on a winning streak, this time in politics.
Mr Ngetich, 31, burst into the limelight after winning the M-Cheza sports lottery last August and suddenly joining Kenya’s millionaire’s club.
Before then he ran an unassuming small eatery in Kericho town.
Five months later, Ngetich scored another personal first when he walked 2014 Commonwealth Games 5,000m athletics queen, Mercy Cherono, down the aisle in a colourful wedding.
Silver medallist
Cherono, was also a silver medallist in the 5,000m race at the 2013 World Championships.
How lucky can a man get?
Well, Ngetich’s luck, it would seem, is only just beginning.
He is back in the limelight, this time for clinching the Jubilee Party ticket to vie for the MCA seat for Kaplelartet ward.
Ngetich bagged the ticket in a race against five other candidates who included the incumbent, Andrew Soi, whose dreams of reclaiming his seat came a cropper when he came fourth.
Speaking to The Standard in his office, Ngetich said joining politics was natural for him given that his father, Richard Samoei, was once a councillor in the defunct Kipsigis County Council.
“My father, who is also my political mentor, represented Kaplelartet ward between 1997 and 2007. During that time, he was also elected to serve as chairman of the defunct Kipsigis County Council,” said Ngetich.
The business management masters degree holder from University of Kabianga and a staunch member of Sosur African Inland Church attributed his political win to social activities he participated in before plunging into politics.
Nonetheless, the soft-spoken politician admits that his local fame as a jackpot winner and his marriage to Cherono early this year also boosted his political bid.
“At first, she was apprehensive about my desire to join politics.
She eventually warmed up to the idea and would occasionally join me on the campaign trail,” he said. “I must say my win in Kiptere, where there many athletes, was due to her campaigning for me.”
Ngetich says his first priority on joining the county assembly will be the drafting of and lobbying for an equalisation fund to uplift marginalised wards.
